BJP will roll back FDI in retail if voted to power: Rajnath Singh

Bramhapuri, Chandrpuar: The BJP national president Rajnath Singh today reiterated that the party would reverse the UPA government's decision to allow FDI in retail if voted to power in the general elections in 2014.

Addressing a farmers' rally here, Rajnath who shared dais with immediate past president Nitin Gadkari, said that the party would "roll back the decision to allow FDI in retail which was harming the interest of lakhs of businessmen and traders in the country, if voted to power in 2014".

Mr Singh had also talked about rolling back the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail if the party was voted to power immediately after the UPA government made the announcement to the effect in September last year.

Mr Singh also said today that if his party was voted to power, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would be linked with agriculture, laboratories would be set up in every district to help farmers test soil, seeds and fertilisers and a regulatory authority would control quality and prices of seeds and fertilisers.

He also criticised the UPA government for not implementing the crop income insurance scheme mooted by BJP when Mr Singh was the Agriculture Minister at the Centre.

Referring the farmers' suicides in Vidarbha, Mr Singh blamed the state government for not completing irrigation projects in the region and said the farmers should get adequate prices for their produce.